QuotePizza Dynamo and Pour Taproom are tapped to open Downtown as soon as the first week of June.
Both passed health inspections May 15, according to the owners of the businesses in the VyStar Credit Union garage Downtown at 61 N. Laura St.
The two concepts feature indoor-outdoor bars and seating, as well as interior bars and tables.
Full article: https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/news/2025/may/21/pour-taproom-and-pizza-dynamo-planning-june-openings/
As much as I hate VyStar for helping an identity fraudster waltz into my banking account in an attempt to steal my life savings, I appreciate that they're trying to help revitalize downtown, too.
QuoteThe 3,000-square-foot restaurant will serve whole pizzas, slices, calzones, sandwiches, salads and gelato.
Happy to be able to get my gelato fix since Peterbrooke closed
Fantastic.
I saw somebody on LinkedIn post some photos inside Pour Taproom which is now open I see. Has anybody been yet? I am so glad that these two venues actually happened. They are huge assets to complement Bellwether, Estrella Cocina, Cowford Chophouse, Sweet Petes, Riverfront Plaza, Volstead, and other popular places downtown.
The only thing that REALLY SUCKS is that the Laura Street Trio absolutely should have already been done around this time. That would have been such a wonderful combination of mixed uses, including a hotel with a nice built in few blocks of things to do.
FYI, if I recall, Estrella Cocina has now closed.
Quote from: Gambit80 on June 05, 2025, 01:33:04 PM
FYI, if I recall, Estrella Cocina has now closed.
Can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised. I had mid experiences there, averaging the cool location/view and the pretty basic and expensive food. I suppose I'd rather have something there than nothing, but even as someone passionate about the economic health of downtown, it wasn't something I'd recommend to people, other than for the view. I hope the next tenant can get in there soon and have better luck.
Quote from: Jankelope on June 05, 2025, 01:21:31 PM
I saw somebody on LinkedIn post some photos inside Pour Taproom which is now open I see. Has anybody been yet? I am so glad that these two venues actually happened. They are huge assets to complement Bellwether, Estrella Cocina, Cowford Chophouse, Sweet Petes, Riverfront Plaza, Volstead, and other popular places downtown.
The only thing that REALLY SUCKS is that the Laura Street Trio absolutely should have already been done around this time. That would have been such a wonderful combination of mixed uses, including a hotel with a nice built in few blocks of things to do.
I went yesterday during Art Walk and it was super nice. A lot of people and great beer selection. I didn't try it but heard the pizza from Pizza Dynamo was very good as well. Wonderful addition to DT and will definitely be a go-to for me during football season
^ good job activating the corner with the outdoor patio space and walk up counter.
Anybody got pictures of that corner?
Went to both on their respective opening nights and wow. Pour feels like a destination itself; a place people will travel to downtown for on its own merit. Not just a place you drop in because you are at art walk or downtown for some other reason. There's a lot of beer to try, but they also have wine and Red Bull/Vodka on tap. Pour has its own food menu if you don't want the pizza from Dynamo, but I highly recommend the pizza. Even with some opening night jitters, my friends and I loved both places. Exciting times for downtown.
Quote from: urban_ on June 05, 2025, 01:45:40 PM
Quote from: Gambit80 on June 05, 2025, 01:33:04 PM
FYI, if I recall, Estrella Cocina has now closed.
Can't confirm this, but I would not be surprised. I had mid experiences there, averaging the cool location/view and the pretty basic and expensive food. I suppose I'd rather have something there than nothing, but even as someone passionate about the economic health of downtown, it wasn't something I'd recommend to people, other than for the view. I hope the next tenant can get in there soon and have better luck.
Can confirm it closed earlier this year.
Quote from: urban_ on June 08, 2025, 10:40:33 PM
Anybody got pictures of that corner?
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/UCUJune-2025/i-rqMZTHk/0/MVKpLKHM3gTZ9Rxbpv4NjtsTnGNVDkLFsBMfM5Wbr/X2/20250524_082338-X2.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/UCUJune-2025/i-g8jsv2x/0/NDjsqrHzdtkztnBLfWmzVgvXkcGB5NRGD45nrRQf4/X2/20250524_082311-X2.jpg)
Thanks, @thelakelander!
Really excellent use of that corner. Totally gives the intersection a sense of place. Now, the BofA corner and Vacant Marble Bank building don't help. But, you're starting to see the pieces come together.
BOA is supposed to have a restaurant and a Starbucks go into its ground floor. So that side of the block could look very different in a year.
I knew about the Starbucks. I did not know about the restaurant, so if that's going at the Forsyth and Laura corner then that's good news.
Quote from: Steve on June 10, 2025, 07:23:05 PM
I knew about the Starbucks. I did not know about the restaurant, so if that's going at the Forsyth and Laura corner then that's good news.
https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2025/01/27/ariete-hospitality-group-bank-of-america-tower.html
Not just any restaurant. This is going to be delicious.
Went for lunch today - packed out from 11a-1p, both sides. Quality venue and food. Fantastic addition to Downtown.
Stopped by tonight to check it out. Very impressive. Also, the food menu is much more extensive than I originally assumed. Definitely a spot for the football season! Got to get more stuff around them ASAP. Its hard to do night time hours long term when you're the only thing open on the entire street.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/UCUJune-2025/i-zPB9Wtw/0/KPnHj2GL7G57h5MLjwXLMz83gCt2tDjRBz57hFQxz/X2/20250611_201450-X2.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/UCUJune-2025/i-NZv9dsR/0/M8r3T5QF4DnHsMNRHXzXzCn493wWcWg8KJxJvrtvv/X2/20250611_201425-X2.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/UCUJune-2025/i-nZStL5k/0/NHnPd9LZNVZBxHgJzvD9fTZjRbKD5wnBZDSwGL5hq/X2/20250611_200221-X2.jpg)
(https://photos.smugmug.com/Cities/Jacksonville/Development/UCUJune-2025/i-QcWp35j/0/KNTkc4WFKZWLRL9D9tjKdWdfPTtvVnsMWRmfnNJGb/X2/20250611_200226-X2.jpg)
I have had 2 pizzas there within a week. Both were really great!
Lucky! Me and my husband literally went 4 times and still haven't had the chance to get pizza. Went a few hours after opening on June 10 and they were out of dough and was told to come back @ 4pm. Came back and and was told to come back @ 430. Waited and then told to come back @ 6pm. Gave them some time and husband went by around 9pm before their reported 10pm closing and was told they were closed @ 9pm. Not really complaining and understand new things have to go through settling pains. Since we literally live across the street from them and it looks to be a popular spot, I feel we have plenty of time to finally try them out.
Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good. Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side. The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.
Quote from: acme54321 on June 13, 2025, 07:09:38 AM
Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good. Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side. The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.
I haven't had a chance to pop in yet.
As someone now on the north side of 40, who finds the two-day bounceback from a night of drinking increasingly harder to justify more than once or twice a month, did you get the sense that Pour had any non-alcoholic options?
Quote from: Ken_FSU on June 13, 2025, 10:52:51 AM
Quote from: acme54321 on June 13, 2025, 07:09:38 AM
Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good. Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side. The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.
did you get the sense that Pour had any non-alcoholic options?
They do have a soda fountain with glasses off to the side of it. Not sure if the intent was for soda to be free, but it looks that way.
Quote from: bg904 on June 13, 2025, 01:14:31 PM
Quote from: Ken_FSU on June 13, 2025, 10:52:51 AM
Quote from: acme54321 on June 13, 2025, 07:09:38 AM
Went last night. Dynamo has some operational kinks to work out but the pizza was good. Pour seems like a bit of a novelty, at least on the beer side. The selection wasn't as good as I expected to be.
did you get the sense that Pour had any non-alcoholic options?
They do have a soda fountain with glasses off to the side of it. Not sure if the intent was for soda to be free, but it looks that way.
Not free. They're a menu item.
All the beers poured foamy and tasted off when I went on Friday...
I am glad to see it's a popular spot for Downtown, and it's good for Downtown, but I do not like it and likely will not be going back. Something so impersonal about it that I don't like, really. Cracks me up when they ask for a tip at the end as you check out, too. A tip for what?!? I poured my own beer and bussed my own table!!
The buffalo chicken grandma's pie was pretty good, though. Pizza Dynamo seems like a spot I will revisit.
Quote from: jax_hwy_engineer on June 16, 2025, 08:33:55 AM
All the beers poured foamy and tasted off when I went on Friday...
I am glad to see it's a popular spot for Downtown, and it's good for Downtown, but I do not like it and likely will not be going back. Something so impersonal about it that I don't like, really. Cracks me up when they ask for a tip at the end as you check out, too. A tip for what?!? I poured my own beer and bussed my own table!!
Literally my exact experience. At least there was an employee there that recognized my glass of foam and she turned the machine on the pour the rest proper for free. And yeah, the tip thing...
The tipping thing is so funny to me. Like, I'm all for more effort = more pay, but who/what am I tipping when I do the work? Pay your people more!
I've become pretty zero-tolerance for a lot of the tip asks. If I'm standing up when I order, and someone spins a screen around, nope no tip. If I showed up to a place, you gave me a wristband and I poured my own beers, then sat down and ordered a pizza on my phone (like I did at pour) then nope! No tip. I feel like they have zero incentive to disable the "ask for a tip" option on the point of sale systems. If a sucker is willing to give you an extra 20% out of a misplaced sense of guilt, why would you ever turn that off? But I ain't falling for it anymore.
I will now only tip if I get my order taken sitting down, or order bellied-up to a bar. Sometimes I'll pay a pittance and tip $1 if I really like a place and their system doesn't offer an easy "no tip" option, but otherwise I am just not falling for it.
Super cool spot, but odd that a pizza place doesn't let you order a slice of pizza on Tuesday - Thursday. Just walked in to finish up some work and grab some quick food and couldn't find the normal pizza slices on the digital menu. Asked, and slices are only available on Monday and Friday. What's a downtown worker with a laptop and an hour to spare going to do with an entire pizza? Hope they change that.
P.S. For those who haven't been, legit might be the best NY style pizza in the city. Surprisingly close to the real deal. When the place was announced, I thought it would be a taproom that also served pizza on the side. Having been a few times now, I think the food is gonna be the main draw.
Went in today at lunch and was also told you cannot order a slice from the Pour side, but you can go to Dynamo side and order it then go back to the Pour side to sit and eat. Makes no sense, but that is the policy for now.
Quote from: bg904 on July 03, 2025, 04:15:56 PM
Went in today at lunch and was also told you cannot order a slice from the Pour side, but you can go to Dynamo side and order it then go back to the Pour side to sit and eat. Makes no sense, but that is the policy for now.
Wait wait wait. I'm so confused. What's the delineation between the Pour side and the Dynamo side? Feels like one big shared dining space?
I believe they are operating independently of each other but allow you to go between spaces. I haven't tried to order pizza from the Pour side but have had no issues ordering slices during the week on the Dynamo side
Quote from: Ken_FSU on July 03, 2025, 04:45:32 PM
Quote from: bg904 on July 03, 2025, 04:15:56 PM
Went in today at lunch and was also told you cannot order a slice from the Pour side, but you can go to Dynamo side and order it then go back to the Pour side to sit and eat. Makes no sense, but that is the policy for now.
Wait wait wait. I'm so confused. What's the delineation between the Pour side and the Dynamo side? Feels like one big shared dining space?
Pizza Dynamo is a separate space with its own dining room and its own front door entrance right next to Pour. They are connected by a walkthrough, but that usually has a curtain drawn and one of those belt barriers on each side to prevent you from using the walkthrough.
I think V pizza in San Marco does it the same way
Quote from: bg904 on July 07, 2025, 10:29:46 AM
Quote from: Ken_FSU on July 03, 2025, 04:45:32 PM
Quote from: bg904 on July 03, 2025, 04:15:56 PM
Went in today at lunch and was also told you cannot order a slice from the Pour side, but you can go to Dynamo side and order it then go back to the Pour side to sit and eat. Makes no sense, but that is the policy for now.
Wait wait wait. I'm so confused. What's the delineation between the Pour side and the Dynamo side? Feels like one big shared dining space?
Pizza Dynamo is a separate space with its own dining room and its own front door entrance right next to Pour. They are connected by a walkthrough, but that usually has a curtain drawn and one of those belt barriers on each side to prevent you from using the walkthrough.
Suddenly it all makes.
I'm dumb as rocks.
I thought the door to the LEFT of the Dynamo sign was the front entrance to Pizza Dynamo.
(https://snipboard.io/XTlvUp.jpg)
And because of the shared open kitchen and the fact that Dynamo pizza is on the menus, I had no idea that the separate Dynamo space existed on the other side of that curtain.
Legit have been in fives time and had no idea this space even existed.
(https://www.jacksonville.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/06/03/NFTU/84018846007-jacksonville-pizza-dynamo-restaurantdowntown-08.JPG)
Mystery solved. Thanks buddy!
Presume that is so they can share a 4COP SFS liquor license. These allows liquor sales if 51% of sales come from food. They are considerably cheaper than the 4COP quota license, which run well into six figures in Duval.